Each year in October, the Elks honor the memory of slain DEA Special Agent Enrique S. Camerena with a Red Ribbon Campaign.

Camerena was kidnapped, tortured and killed because he was successfully investigating one of the largest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.

The Elks Drug Awareness Program has launched a national campaign to ask our leaders in Washington to uphold our nation's drug laws and to remind everyone, especially our youth, of the dangers of using any illicit drug.

The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States of America has the largest all-volunteer drug awareness program in the country.

[continues 96 words]

A SPRINKLING of spice.

Random thoughts about the drug spice and the crackdown in Manchester. Manchester doesn't have a spice problem, it has a drug problem.

Speak to people in Bronstein Park, and it becomes clear that spice is just one patch in the tapestry of this city's drug culture.

Christo Shaw, 28, said users prefer spice because it might mean a clean drug test.

"We were always getting in trouble for smoking weed," said Shaw, who is on probation and must submit to drug tests. A stay-at-home mom, Shaw said she stopped smoking spice because of last week's dozens of overdoses.

[continues 745 words]

ABC News Show Filmed Portsmouth Police Officers' Battle Against Illicit Drugs

The Portsmouth Police Department's war on drugs will be televised.

As part of a program about opiate abuse across the country, the ABC News show "20/20" filmed Portsmouth police officers while they went undercover to buy drugs, watched drug deals from afar and made drug busts.

Producer Glenn Ruppell said Portsmouth was selected as one of the featured communities for the "20/20" show "because it's exactly the kind of place - a beautiful, safe and prosperous town and popular vacation destination - that too many people think is unlikely to have a drug problem."

[continues 684 words]

MANCHESTER - City officials have shut down three convenience stores that allegedly sold the synthetic marijuana "spice" connected to at least 34 overdoses in the last few days.

Han's Food Mart, 353 Maple St., Union Street Market, 621 Union St. and TN Convenience, 90 Bridge St., sold a brand called "Smacked" that city officials said is linked to the overdoses, according to Mayor Ted Gatsas.

The city closed the stores and revoked the businesses' licenses "for conducting business activities which endanger the public health, welfare, and safety of local residents," Gatsas said in a written statement.

[continues 392 words]

DOVER - Members of a new countywide drug task force say the amount of heroin they are seeing on the streets is surprising, even to experienced law enforcement officials.

"The volume of heroin we are seeing is at the level of marijuana we dealt with 15 years ago," Sgt. Brandon Drysdale, the task force's commander, recently reported to the Chiefs of Police of Strafford County. Drysdale said Monday that when he started as a police officer in Somersworth 17 years ago, marijuana was the most commonly seen drug for law enforcement officials. Today, heroin, which is cheaper and easy to obtain, has become the drug of choice for many area residents.

[continues 309 words]

Police: Many Thefts Tied to Drugs

Reports of two brazen burglaries in Derry last week have residents concerned about what area police say is part of a growing trend in Southern New Hampshire.

When Derry police reported Wednesday that residences on East Broadway and Birch Street had been broken into while the residents were home, there was a surge in responses on social media.

More than 14,000 people read and many responded to a Facebook posting about the crimes.

Some expressed concern for their safety, while others offered tips on how to keep homes safe. Some recommended buying a gun.

[continues 964 words]

It's sad what's happening - or rather, what isn't happening - with New Hampshire's "therapeutic use of cannabis" program. Despite the fact that a medical marijuana bill was signed into law last July, nine months later patients are still no better off than they were a year ago.

This failure of our state government to protect even the sickest patients can be laid squarely at the feet of two individuals: Governor Maggie Hassan and former Governor John Lynch.

Let's rewind. The House and Senate have approved medical marijuana bills three times dating back to 2009, and all three bills were either killed or mangled at the behest of Democratic Governors. As a result, today New Hampshire is the only state in New England where doctors still can't help their patients get legal protection if they have a serious illness and could benefit from marijuana.

[continues 591 words]

NASHUA - With about 40 heroin overdoses in the Gate City so far this year - the most recent one this week - Police Chief John Seusing said the increase in drug-related problems is overwhelming.

Pleading with city officials for money to hire four more police officers, Seusing said the city is on track to triple the number of heroin overdoses in 2014 over last year.

"That is pretty alarming," said the chief. "This heroin addiction is so severe - this is all they care about. They are married to that drug."

[continues 601 words]

DERRY - The town is not immune to the heroin and other drug overdose deaths that many communities in the Granite State are trying to stem.

Five people have died from drug overdoses in Derry since January, with four of the deaths blamed on heroin, police said.

"These are troubling times for all of us," said Ed Garone, police chief. "This is a scourge that has gone across the country and Derry has not escaped that scourge."

Also since January, there were 16 drug overdoses in Derry, with 12 from heroin, Garone said.

[continues 333 words]

CONCORD - Supporters of a grow-your-own provision in the state's medical marijuana law were dealt a blow by a Senate committee, which voted 3-1 on Tuesday to send the self-cultivation proposal to interim study, most likely killing the bill for this year.

The vote against the measure, which had passed the Democrat-controlled House by a large margin, protects Gov. Maggie Hassan from a potentially embarrassing veto fight. In addition to a veto threat from the governor, the bill was opposed by the Department of Safety, the New Hampshire State Police and individual police chiefs.

[continues 534 words]

The regulation of marijuana is much in the news. Should it be legalized? Should the law allow medical marijuana?

As a retired mental health and alcohol/ drug counselor I asked some colleagues for their thinking about marijuana. In every instance there was a lack of decisiveness and clarity.

Marijuana is the most commonly used drug in the world, and it is the most dangerous because its use is on the rise with 12- to 18-year-olds, a time when the brain is still actively forming.

[continues 201 words]

The New Hampshire House voted against legalizing marijuana 192-140 yesterday, marking a significant shift after passing the bill by eight votes in January. After that vote, the bill went to the Ways and Means Committee, which recommended killing it after studying regulation and taxing aspects of the bill.

The Senate was nearly certain to block the bill, and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan had promised to veto any bill legalizing marijuana. Hassan signed a medical marijuana bill last year, and last month the House passed a bill to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Opponents of legalization said the state should take small steps when it comes to marijuana. Hassan has already said she's unlikely to sign a decriminalization bill.

[continues 436 words]

To the editor: Regarding Ethan Gauvin's thoughtful March 16 op-ed, the days when politicians can get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has almost double the rate of use as the Netherlands where marijuana is legally available. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. This country can no longer afford to subsidize the prejudices of culture warriors.

Not just in Colorado and Washington state but throughout the nation, it's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy www.csdp.org Washington, D.C.

[end]

To the editor: Two observations on the marijuana question:

1. New Hampshire seems to be in the grip of a pervasive schizophrenia; on the one hand, parents and educators are demanding newer, bigger and better schools for their children. "Our kids deserve the best," is the banner cry. Seems reasonable; kids are the future, and educated kids will presumably contribute mightily to a better future for all of us. Sounds reasonable to me.

2) Another equally vocal segment of the populace is demanding the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, shouting for the freedom to indulge in the inhalation or ingestion of cannabis at any time, without breaking the law.

[continues 244 words]

If you're a representative and vote against the wishes of 60 percent of your constituency and you want to get re-elected, you'd better have a cogent explanation why you think your judgment is superior to the people you supposedly represent. Saying, "it's the wrong message to send to young people" is not a cogent explanation.

It's OK to be lax educating yourself about a personal issue. But when you represent other people's interests, you have a moral obligation to sufficiently educate yourself about issues you vote on.

[continues 765 words]

On Jan. 1, thousands of Coloradans eagerly lined up to make their first legal purchase of recreational marijuana. Amendment 64, a ballot measure that passed in 2012 with 55 percent of Colorado voters in favor, legalized the recreational use of marijuana and permitted adults aged 21 years or older to purchase up to an ounce.

The law also places the onus of regulating the manufacture, distribution and sale of marijuana on the state government. This unprecedented experiment in governmental regulation of weed is still in its infancy, but all signs are indicating that what's good for pot enthusiasts is good for government - and more than likely good for society.

[continues 508 words]

For the Monitor

Re "Governors: Legalized pot buzz just smoke" (Monitor Nation & World section, Feb. 23):

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is correct: Tax revenue is the wrong reason for legalizing recreational marijuana. Legalize the plant for the correct reasons: While illegal, it causes underground markets, cartels, increased hard drug addiction rates, contempt for drug laws, eroded constitutional rights, loss of freedom, escalated prison populations, corrupt politicians, race discrimination, prohibition of free American farmers from growing hemp (even though communist Chinese farmers grow it), trillions of dollars in wasted taxes, deceiving citizens and the listing is growing faster than the plant itself. Just be sure to get the job done.

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

A recent Business Insider report of the 50 "Most On-Campus Drug Arrests Per 1,000 Students," ranked Keene State College at number 20. On a wider scale, KSC has contributed to a small percentage of drug-related arrests made nationally since President Richard Nixon's "War on Drugs" began. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP, has proposed one possible way of reducing future drug use and drug related arrests in the United States; legalizing all drugs at once.

"This [drug use] is a health problem, not a crime problem. Let's not let the criminal justice system take care of this issue. Let's save a whole bunch of money and a whole bunch of lives and help educate people. We have to end prohibition in order to do this. We legalize all drugs. Drugs like marijuana, drugs like cocaine, drugs like heroin. That sounds pretty radical. We're not making it up," Richard Van Wickler, a speaker for LEAP, stated at the non-profit organization's KSC presentation on Tuesday Feb. 18.

[continues 994 words]

As House Bill 1622, permitting qualifying patients and registered caregivers to grow marijuana for therapeutic use, moves through the Legislature, I urge legislators to support this bill. Let's get help to the people of New Hampshire who need it. Gov. Maggie Hassan was misguided when she insisted on no grows by those eligible for therapeutic cannabis.

I am heartened with the result of House votes on HB 492, which would tax and regulate cannabis. The enormous body of knowledge on cannabis shows this to be a much less harmful way to socialize. This natural herb has helped many alcoholics maintain their recoveries. I realize that this may ultimately be determined inexpedient to legislate, but I hope next year legislators will know more about the truth of this herb.

[continues 144 words]

But this is only one of the many reasons our nation's laws - on a state-by-state basis - are moving toward legalization.

When President Richard Nixon first declared his War on Drugs, federal agencies were quick to list marijuana as a Class A drug, along with heroin. This erroneous association fueled a witch hunt that needlessly ruined many a young life with felony convictions and jail time, while ignoring their cries for help.

Thankfully, we as a nation have come to understand that the War on Drugs overreached.

[continues 392 words]